by Sujata Rajpal
Those who believe that early marriage puts a spoke in the wheel of a woman’s professional growth and sounds a death-knell for her career should think again. The city-based designer and entrepreneur Vanitha Santosh is one such woman who not only started her career from scratch after marriage but also followed her heart by turning her passion into a full-fledged business.
She is one amongst 10,000 women entrepreneurs in the world who were selected to undergo Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Certificate Programme. Conducted by Indian School of Business (ISB) in collaboration with Goldman Sachs, the 16-week programme provided world-class education to selected women entrepreneurs with 3 weeks of classroom sessions and 13 weeks of mentoring support on the job.
“This programme is an equivalent to MBA and I am considered as an alumnus of ISB,” Vanitha chuckles. The curriculum comprised structured way to do business, time management, prioritisation, focus, defining one’s targets in business and multitasking, which is so very important for women.
Vanitha was married off at the age of 18 immediately after her plus two exam. After marriage, she not only started her own venture but also studied B.Com through Open University. She recalls fondly how she was up on her feet visiting clients just two weeks after delivering a baby and would carry her eighteen-month-old son for meetings.
The seeds for entrepreneurship were sown in her when she was still in middle school. “I was the first grandchild in a big joint family. Though I was pampered, I had to run errands for everyone in the family, which taught me many life-skills required in a business and gave me an idea of pricing, negotiations and much more,” tells Vanitha.
Colours, designs and fabric fascinated Vanitha even as a child. She loved to give a new look to the fabric by mix and match. She got her first break at the age of 15 from a French Company to design kids’ summer collection for six seasons. It provided a great learning platform and the beginning of many more opportunities.
“I got married early but still I have managed to do what I had always wanted to. I don’t believe in complaining. Instead, I strongly believe in making the best use of the circumstances. I have always been a go-getter without being blatantly aggressive,” tells Vanitha with a constant smile playing on her lips.
Vanitha kick-started her venture with Mangalgiri Mix-and- Match kurtas which she exhibited at Rotary Needs in 1999. This was her first taste of success. The enterprising woman has come a long way since then. She has added various verticals in her business, which includes customised uniforms for hospitals, industry and hospitality sector, clothes for new borns, block printing, redoing old sarees, designer blouses. Out of all the verticals, redoing old sarees and giving a new look to the six yards is her favourite as there is a lot of sentimental value attached to old sarees.
Twelve years ago when Vanitha had just started her venture of customised uniforms, she met with an accident, which made her immobile for almost a year. She didn’t want to close the unit which had just taken off. At that time, her husband Santosh gave up his business of computer consumables and joined his better half. Since then the husband and wife have been working as a team.
“Though it is one business, we have our own independent clients and have divided our responsibilities,” says Vanitha candidly.
Aligning with her people’s person image, Vanitha prefers the front end jobs like marketing and designing whereas Santosh takes care of manufacturing and operations. The couple has an unwritten rule of not discussing work at home. The husband and wife take turns to ensure that one of the parents is always around when their two school-going boys, Aditya and Chaitanya, are at home. Vanitha resides at Sankalp Central Park, Yadavagiri and her store-cum-workshop Hidden Store is located on Kalidasa Road.
“Being a woman, I had to face many challenges. When I approached an organisation for soliciting orders for uniforms, they shooed me away thinking what can a woman do but when my husband approached the same organisation, they readily gave him the order. What saddens me the most is the attitude of people towards a woman entrepreneur,” tells Vanitha. “Mysuru is still not open to women entrepreneurs.”
There is more to Vanitha than a successful entrepreneur. She is a self-taught classical singer. A few years ago, she received an opportunity to perform at the Amba Vilas Palace during Dasara in front of a large audience. “One day I would want to find out time to learn classical singing,” she says dreamily.
e-mail: vanitha27santosh@gmail.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Features Articles / Monday – March 02nd, 2015